Robin Skone Palmer

Robin Skone Palmer

How is it that I get seduced by plants? I know I should stay away fro nurseries — I’m worse than a kid in a candy store. But here I am again, buying something that I’ve never even heard of and hoping it’ll actually grow and thrive in my garden. I’m batting about 200, but just can’t seem to let it go. Maybe this time it’ll be a home run.

Dirt cheap? Hah! No such thing — ain’t nothing cheap about dirt! I’m still shell-shocked by my trip to the nursery this afternoon. Sticker shock — who knew it could apply to dirt?? The flowers are gorgeous and I can hardly wait to get some planted by the trellis … but I’ll need some fresh dirt. Three years ago I decided to add more dirt to my big planter in the backyard. My plants liked it so I thought this year I’d add some more this year — maybe a dozen big bags would do it, so off I went to the nursery. I trotted into Lowe’s Garden Center, (http://www.lowe’s.com/Outdoors) grabbed a basket and trundled over to the stacks of soil. And there I stopped, gasped and blinked several times. Evidently you can no longer buy a bag of just dirt. You have to get a specific kind of dirt. There is… Read More »

Don’t you just love when you find a great bargain? A couple of weeks ago I got that Rosenblum zinfandel at about 1/3 the price it was going for elsewhere and yesterday I found some more bargains — and I wasn’t even looking. Not wine, though, other stuff. Let’s start with the plants! First of all, I finally grabbed the trowel and clippers, pulled on my gardening gloves and removed the dead snapdragons from the little space under the kitchen window. I love to have flowers there because it makes the entrance festive — but not when it’s a bunch of dead stalks. So now, what to replace them with? It’s a bit of a problem because the area is small and right up against the stucco wall so it gets plenty of heat, but it is also north-facing so only gets direct sunshine for a few hours in mid-summer. Flowers need sunshine… Read More »

“Doggone it!” I yelled. “That cat used the litter box. Again!” Lonnie, my friend who was visiting from Texas, looked up from his book. “What?” “Paddy O’Cat just used the litter box.” “You don’t want him to use the litter box?” “No! I just scooped it. It was nice and clean!” “You want him to use the floor instead?” “NO!” “I’m not understanding the problem.” I came back into the dining room and reached for my nearly cold coffee. “He just came in,” I explained as patiently as possible. “He’s been outside in the yard for the last hour. He has the whole yard for a litter box, and he comes in and uses this one.” “You want him to poop in your flower bed?” “No! Not in the flower bed.” We looked together at the last of the fall flowers (this was a few months ago) and my herbs which were doing quite… Read More »

… Well, it’s not quite spring, but it will be soon. My cousins in Framingham, MA, and New York City and my friend in Pennsylvania may doubt that, but my apricot tree is saying “yes!” And here’s proof: The nurseries are stocking spring flowers. Right now! At noon I was sitting on the patio reading the paper and looked at my garden wondering when things were going to start blooming. The apricot tree started two days ago and the pomegranate tree has some miniscule leaves showing, too. But I was thinking of the flower bed and then it hit me: Hey, I could go and BUY some flowers and jump start this whole spring thing! So, jamming a baseball cap on my unkempt hair and donning my sunglasses for disguise, I headed down to Lowe’s. Just walking into the nursery made me smile. My breathing slowed and my pulse dropped to somewhere near… Read More »